Many sellers cut their orders in half! Top sellers use new operations to boost sales

Many Amazon sellers had a difficult start in 2023. With the adjustment of multiple policies such as storage capacity policy and front-end display of product sales, competition among sellers intensified, orders continued to decline, and operating costs increased sharply. However, some sellers bucked the trend and welcomed an increase in orders, achieving steady growth.

For Amazon sellers, how can they change the downward trend and maintain their competitive advantage? Shenzhen's top sellers gave the answer based on the current situation and shared many details of Amazon's refined operations in 2023, which may become the password for sellers to pass the level.

Orders cut in half, Amazon's multiple adjustments exacerbate internal competition

Entering 2023, many Amazon sellers reported a decline in orders: February was worse than January, and March seemed even bleaker. By the end of March, many peers had lost their minds, and some even threatened to change careers.

Yesterday, a seller said that orders were a bit cold, and then many of his peers said they had encountered the same situation. Judging from various feedback, Amazon sellers' orders have declined significantly recently, and have shown a certain degree of continuity. Most sellers' orders have fallen by more than half. One practitioner joked: "After seeing the sales, I dare not order Shaxian snacks for lunch today."

An industry insider believes that it is normal for sellers to have no orders in today's bad environment. The Urban Institute, a US think tank, released a report on Tuesday saying that nearly 25% of American adults do not have enough food to eat. About 10% of Americans are worried about their ability to afford daily meals.

The decline in consumer power in Europe and the United States has directly led to a slump in sales for cross-border sellers, but not all sellers are affected.

Fang Jiale, VP of Shenzhen's top comprehensive seller , said that this year, many of his peers have been doing well, with overall orders steadily increasing compared to the first quarter of last year. Orders and sales are gradually improving, and sellers that have not been affected by the ban, including his own company, have basically maintained a 20%-30% growth. The reasons behind the growth are nothing more than the following:

1. With the Fed's slowdown in raising interest rates, global inflation has weakened, and with the rapid recovery of the global supply chain in the post-epidemic era, consumption levels are also gradually recovering;

2. Global shipping capacity has returned to pre-pandemic levels, energy prices have fallen rapidly, shipping costs have fallen, and sellers' logistics costs have been greatly reduced;

3. Previously, due to the epidemic and account suspension, sellers’ inventory capacity was bloated. Now, the inventory capacity of many peers has been basically digested, and the market is gradually recovering.

However, this year Amazon has gradually adjusted its relevant policies, which has had a great impact on many people and has invisibly increased everyone's operating costs.

On March 1, Amazon's new warehouse capacity policy came into effect, lifting shipping restrictions on many sellers, but the "paying for warehouse capacity" in the new policy has caused great controversy. Fang Jiale believes that overall, Amazon's new warehouse capacity policy has lifted the shipping restrictions on sellers. Amazon will rank sellers according to the bids reserved by the sellers, and the highest bidder will win. This new policy has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that sellers can ship more flexibly and more flexibly, and if the storage capacity is insufficient, they can apply for capacity expansion through bidding. The disadvantages are also obvious, as it will affect the accuracy of sellers' shipments based on sales forecasts, and bidding for storage capacity will undoubtedly increase operating costs.

On March 15, Amazon disclosed the sales of some categories, which aroused the concerns of sellers. Fang Jiale bluntly said that this is a manifestation of the platform's emphasis on products and consumers, and not sellers. The policy has brought many impacts to sellers.

1. It drives the platform operation to two extremes: high-quality old links will get more traffic, while new products and old links of poor quality will have a harder time;

2. It will lead to a reshuffle of Amazon’s brand ecosystem, with top brands receiving invisible support and the brand monopoly rate further increasing;

3. Intensifying market competition. As data becomes more transparent, more sellers may continue to lower prices in order to increase sales, leading to increasingly fierce price wars.

Sellers urgently need to refine their operations and return to the product itself

In Fang Jiale's opinion, the overall sales of cross-border sellers will gradually improve this year, but if they want to maintain profits and achieve stable growth in the fierce competition, the prerequisite is to carry out refined operations.

Whether it is Amazon implementing a new inventory capacity policy or displaying sales on the front desk, all major adjustments to the platform require sellers to move towards refined operations, return to the product itself, and improve core competitiveness in order to achieve long-termism.

How to conduct refined operations is also an important compulsory course for Amazon sellers in 2023. In this regard, Fang Jiale shared the operation strategies of the top sellers and demonstrated the methods of refined operations in multiple dimensions.

First, refine the product line. Gradually move from general products to vertical high-quality products, build in-depth consumer portraits, solve consumer pain points, create consumer addiction points, focus on consumer real needs, repeatedly polish the core competitiveness of products, build cost advantages under economies of scale, pay attention to buyers' voices, and control product functions, performance, design, quality and other details.

Second, refinement of operations. First, the operation rhythm is fast , accurate and ruthless; use the leverage points of the operation strategy to leverage the growth cycle, take long-term ROI as the guide, cross the growth gap, build a closed loop of traffic ecology, and design operation strategies in a targeted manner according to the product life cycle; second, repeatedly polish the details of the listing, including product titles, descriptions, A+ pictures, window videos, related videos, marketing strategies, activity rhythms and other aspects of optimization; finally, carry out all-round and targeted advertising layout, and use advertising leverage to leverage the virtuous cycle of the operation pyramid.

Third, refine data analysis. Build a data analysis system to understand the real-time sales situation, advertising data, inventory, inventory turnover rate, inventory turnover rate, forecast accuracy, FBA inventory, after-sales, customer service store performance through data. Use data to find problems, prevent risks, review and optimize, and accumulate experience.

Fourth, refine performance and cost management. Reducing costs and increasing efficiency from the supply and operation sides is an important part. As a seller, you need to improve inventory performance in all aspects, minimize capital utilization and increase profit margins; polish the core competitiveness of products, improve conversion rates, deeply optimize advertising, reduce ineffective spending, spend every penny wisely, and continuously test the optimal pricing based on product value to maximize profits and benefits.

Fifth, refine the brand ecology. What sellers need to do is to build a brand moat, occupy the minds of consumers, leverage re-growth and precipitation through brands, build the endogenous and exogenous growth power of the enterprise, use the benefit pool of brand sustainable growth; through brand strategic growth, leverage a new round of rapid growth.

The refined operation of the big seller is full of details, which can be called textbook level! On April 11, at the "2023 Sixth Cross-border E-commerce Network Marketing Conference" hosted by Yien.com, Fang Jiale will give a keynote speech on "What Amazon Should Do for Refined Operations in 2023", showing more practical dry goods for refined operations in all aspects.

Amazon sellers who are stuck in a situation of declining orders and profits, please scan the QR code below to register for the conference and learn from top sellers on site.

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